Still Dreaming of America, Arabs?!

Arabs are seemingly invalidishly accustomed to waiting for the hero who can bring an end to all their concerns and problems while just praying for him/her and wishing him/her the best of luck. Evidently, after commissioning George Mitchell as a mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, circles of Arab officials applauded Obama’s choice of the man who previously solved the Irish problem. And when they learned of the Lebanese origins of Mitchell’s mother, they became more optimistic and hoped he would side with the Palestinians. And not to forget the spasms of cheer when Obama won, the first American president of African and Muslim roots.

So, what are the Arabs expecting from the new American delegate who has already framed his related policies in abridged yet suggestive words, that his country is committed to maintaining the security of Israel, which has the right to defend itself along with taking every effort to push the peace process forward? And before him, were Obama’s declarations of Jerusalem being a capital as one for Israel? So where does the difference lie?

On the other hand, while Arabs were preoccupied with wooing Obama, Israel went on destroying Gaza, to make that a reality before him, and announced it would drive 60,000 out of 300,000 settlers from the West Bank, falling back to the 1967 borders and including the bigger settling masses into the Israeli state in return for granting the Palestinians some stretches of land in Negev. This, and nothing else, is Israel’s negotiating schedule with Mitchell. Did not Menachem Begin state, before going to Camp David (1978), that there shall only be self-governance for the Palestinians and no such a thing as a recognized Palestinian State, something that became real at Oslo in 1998? Can Mitchell then suggest, for example, expelling the settlers to Negev?

Indeed, Arab officials and diplomats should understand that the brilliant success of Mitchell in Ireland does not indicate the same result in Palestine. That is because Ireland’s problem was between a Catholic minority and a Protestant majority, not a question of land and a native country as with Palestine. Besides, the Jews’ believe that Palestine is Israel’s homeland and the Arabs are invaders, as Begin wrote in his memoires that were published in 1951.

In conclusion, the neutrality of any political negotiator is a mere mirage that we do not have to chase, or why did Mitchell cancel his visit to Turkey in response to Ragab Tayeb Ardoghan’s [the Turkish premier] refuting of the Israeli president’s lies in the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos?

Please Arabs, stop your day dreams of an unbiased America!